West Marin water utilities warn of dwindling supplies
Customers told to cut use or possibly face rationing
Responding to worsening drought conditions, West Marin water suppliers are petitioning residents to reduce their water use or else face stricter measures such as rationing.
The Inverness Public Utility District plans to declare a water shortage emergency on July 22 in response to historic low rainfall in its watershed.
“We’ve owned the water system for 40 years and this is the driest year we’ve ever seen,” said Wade Holland, a district manager.
Unlike larger suppliers in the county, the Inverness district has no reservoirs and relies on stream flows from the Inverness Ridge to replenish its storage tanks. The district has recorded about 23.03 inches of rain from July 1, 2019, to June 30, which is below its average of 37.37 inches. Holland said this is the lowest rainfall since the 1975-76 drought.
The second half of the rain season is the most valuable for the district, but only 6 inches of the normal 15.5 inches were recorded from February to June, he said.
Water use among the district’s 517 connections has remained normal, which Holland said indicates the issue is primarily due to the lackluster rainfall.
“Our real worry we’re seeing today in the first half of July is the kind of stream flows we normally expect in October and November,” Holland said.
The U.S. Drought Monitor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln shows Marin County and other regions of the Bay Area are under severe drought conditions.
Various conservation steps would take place before mandatory rationing would be required, Holland said. In recent years, the district has yet to go beyond restricting outdoor watering on certain days.
“We just need everybody to cut back on their water usage and our real concern is we’re probably five to seven months before we get any more rains,” he said. “So it’s looking very ominous in the later summer and early fall.”
Last month, the Bolinas Community Public Utility District issued a conservation alert calling for a 20-30% reduction in water use, or else the district might need to implement water rationing as early as this summer.
The district already has a limited water supply from Arroyo Hondo Creek and two emergency reservoirs to the point that it has a moratorium on new connections to its system.
Compounding a lessthan-average rainfall season in 2019-20 of 22.7 inches — the average being about 33 inches — the district also began seeing between a 20-30% increase in water use after Memorial Day weekend, according to Jennifer Blackman, the general manager.
As a result, the district began tapping into its emergency reservoirs in May, whereas in normal years that would only need to occur in the late fall, if at all, she said.
The district’s 587 customers have shown a good response to the conservation alert so far, Blackman said.
“There is a lot of concern in town and a desire for people to do their part. We really appreciate that,” Blackman said. “We know it’s hard to make these lifestyle changes sometimes, particularly now when we’re all under such unprecedented times.”
The North Marin Water District has had a 25% water conservation mandate in place for its West Marin service area since July 1. The mandate was put in place after the district declared a water shortage emergency in early May. Customers were under a voluntary 15% conservation advisory in May and June.
Meter readings appear to show that the 1,800 ratepayers in West Marin met or were close to the 15% target, said Drew McIntyre, the district general manager. McIntyre said he has confidence the 25% mandate will be met considering behavioral changes that have taken place in recent decades as well as advancements in low water-use fixtures and appliances.
“Our customers out in West Marin have done a really good job conserving water for the last 20 years,” he said. “I just looked at water consumption last year vs. 20 years ago and it’s over 40% below what it was 20 years ago.”
NMWD’s West Marin service area is supplied through wells that are replenished by the Lagunitas Creek watershed. These wells serve communities such as Olema, Point Reyes Station, Inverness Park and Paradise Ranch Estates. If the district appears to be nearing its maximum diversion rate from the creek of 0.67 cubic feet per second, McIntyre said the district can purchase water from Marin Municipal Water District that would be released into the creek.
Marin Municipal Water District’s reservoirs are at about 78% capacity with about 62,300 acre-feet of water, below the average of 65,470 acre-feet for this time of year, according to the district.
The district’s rainfall records at Lake Lagunitas show it received about 35 inches between July 1, 2019, through June 30, which is less than the average 52.5 inches and significantly less than the 74.1 inches received in the prior year.